Day 235- The Maharajah's Household

AMER/ AMBER FORT JAIPUR

Amer or Amber Fort , in Amber, 13 km from Jaipur

On a hilltop overlooking the Maota lake, in the ancient capital city of the Rajputs (between the 12th-18th century) called Amber, is a fortified complex that has taken two centuries to build. Inside the foreboding exterior housed some of the most beautiful royal palaces, houses and temples of  the Rajput royalty. In the days of yore, this citadel was a palace, an administrative headquarters and a strategic military bastion. 

This is a strip of 2 photographs, badly joined of elephants riding into the palace.

In the past, the return of the Maharajah and his victorious army was usually celebrated with much pomp and music. Drums and flowers accompanied the royal guards on their elephants as they trotted into the King's home, eager to display their war's earnings at the courtyard. This experience is now being offered to tourists at a very affordable price.

Diwan-i-Aam-The Public Audience Hall just outside the palace gate

One of the first hall we see at the courtyard and just before we enter the palace is the Diwan-i-Aam or the Public Audience Hall. Where the king sits, the view confronting him is not only the crowd of his people but also the majestic Aravalli Mountains

Jai Mandir Hall situated just next to the Diwan-i-Aam- Inspiring the dining room of Devi Ratn?

In the movie, Jodhaa Akbar, there  is a spectacular scene where Emperor Akbar had an audience with his advisers and met the public who have come to see him with their grievances. This scene was shot here at Amer Fort. 

Hindu yogis or wandering sadhus(?) walking to the temple and passing both halls

Even after the royal palace and houses of prominent persons shifted to Jaipur in 1724, the priests of the Shila Devi temple in Amber Fort who were Bengali Brahmins continued to live in the fort (to this date).

Ganesh Pol (Pol meaning gate in Rajasthan) leading to the residences of the Maharajah. 
Note the filigree screens on the 2nd floor.

Welcome to my "humble" abode?

Jalli (filigreed) screens to shield the women in the harem from the public

The concept of Harem was brought in by the Muslim rulers who ruled Hindustan for nearly 900 years. The harem and its ethos were imported from Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Women of the harem were not allowed to venture outside without being shielded from the public eye. 

View through the jalli

Filigree screens or jallis were built in the palaces to allow these women glimpses of  the world  outside the harem.

Back of Ganesh Pol

Charbagh or Paradise Garden (Bagh means garden in Rajasthan)

To keep the women in the palace happy, their quarters were built mainly to please their senses. Advanced in their civil engineering, the Amer palaces and gardens were cooled and scented ingeniously. For example, perfumes were strategically placed in inlets that brought in the monsoon water. As the water flowed over these perfumes, the room would suddenly be  delicately scented with its soft fragrance. The water would then be led through pipes or drain to flow further down  into the central garden.

View through window inside the palace to Kesar Kyari Bagh at the center of Maota Lake

Kesar Kyari Bagh

Kesar Kyari Bagh means the Garden of Saffron because it was used to grow mainly saffron. Imagine when the saffron flowers bloomed, how their  fragrance would waft up into the private quarters of the ladies for their enjoyment. It was also said that this garden was designed to look like a traditional Persian rug when all the flowers were in full bloom.

Facade :The Zenanas or Women Palaces

The Zenanas is a series of exclusive chambers for the queens linked by a general hallway. Designed very cleverly to give privacy to each queen of the Maharajah, none of the other women was to know when or who the Maharajah visited for the night. 

Chamber of the favoured Queen

To provide ease of visits by the Maharajah, the favoured queen would occupy the most elaborately decorated chamber closest to the Maharajah's apartment. These rooms have frescoes depicting love scenes between Krishna and Leela in the courtyards, much like how the Maharajah and his queens would enjoy their time together.

Ladies taking a break . Simple but effective brooms.  

On maidservants in the harem, this is what was said by one of the Maharanis of Jodhpur:

The newly-married bride never came to her husband's home alone. To add to the staff already provided by her husband, she brought a retinue of her own servant women who had attended her as a young girl and with whom she had close bonds. 'My mother had hundreds of maids, mostly from Osian where she came from,' recalls Padmavati Devi of Jodhpur, Maharani of Baroda. 'Since there were umpteen relatives each with umpteen members of their retinues and then the retinues' umpteen staff, there were hundreds of women in the Jodhpur zanana, but it was like one big happy family. ("Within the Zanana").

 Intricately carved windows

As we near the end of our tour of the Amber Fort Palace, a stroll along the winding corridors leading to the exit reveal what must once be pristine and intricate carvings of windows

but now broken and old. The state of disrepair, I feel,  can only lend more credibility and strengthen their standing in the records of mankind. I have withstood the test of time, they say, I have seen the passing of history through centuries and I have the scars to show for it.

 Stained Glass Window In A locked Room-Picture taken through a broken glass pane in the door.

You shall not view me through tinted glasses. This is real.

Home for a Homing Pigeon?